I've made an example of myself, and not the good kind.

You see, the thing about typos is they happen. Publishers make reprints, newspapers run corrections, professors make marks with their red pens. Just think of all the time, money, and effort spent on avoiding and correcting misspelled words, run on sentences--I've already made (and fortunately caught) three of them in this blog.

The other thing about typos is that there are some places where they can't happen, or at least where they are seldom forgiven.

Like on a resume.

For a proofreading job.

You heard right, my friends, I boasted my community invovlement on my resume that I sent to a marketing firm that warns potential employees on their job posting that "errors are costly and time-consuming for our clients and our company; they could be cause for dismissal." Their confident and daring use of the often-debated semi-colon makes the statement that much more intimidating.

And, no. The squiggly red line we've all come to rely on so well did not save my ass. I made my resume in InDesign, a graphic design program that I'm new to, and haven't yet found its spell check function. I was trying to make it tech-savvy and user-friendly--I even converted it into a PDF.

Luckily, the only other company who received that copy of my resume was advertising a job for which I knew I was highly under-qualified.

But as for the hip-sounding marketing firm, it makes it all the harder to take knowing that I was a perfect match for the job. The ad even said "must love dogs." Sure, I'm more of a cat person, but still, how cool is that?

I haven't heard anything back yet, not even a rejection. Part of me is tempted to write to them again and admit my flaw, in the vain hope they kept my papers on file because my writing samples were just that good. My less optimistic side says I made their decision for them. You wouldn't hire a nanny with a criminal record. You don't hire a dyslexic to do your taxes.

Until the next sweet-sounding job posting surfaces on Craig's List, I'll keep on hoping that company's need for a proofreader is particularly desperate.

By the way, can you find the typos I left uncorrected in this post? Maybe that's just the perfect way to end all of my cover letters.